are singaporeans too critical?

In a recent Facebook update, Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts Lawrence Wong wrote about his disappointment in Singaporeans for both mocking volunteers and wanting to politicise everything.

In the first instance, Mr Wong was referring to the recent visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. For their visit to one of Singapore’s public housing estates, volunteers were brought in to make use of the facilities: some practised tai chi, others stretched out at the fitness corner and children scampered about the playground. The following images surfaced online:

 

At about 3.45pm it was completely unnatural for all this activity to be going on, and Singaporeans did not hesitate to point this out. Referring to the whole episode as a “wayang” (translation: show), people began to question if the whole charade had been necessary. Rather than seeing it as a proud moment for Singapore, many cringed at how fake the whole thing looked.

It was later reported that it had all been a display for the royal visit, and that it had been explained to the Duke and Duchess that “such activities do not always take place at the time of their visit.”

In his status update, Mr Wong lamented the way the volunteers had been mocked for taking part in the wayang.